Shale explorers boost U.S. work again despite oil price collapse

Working U.S. oil rigs rose by 2 this week to 885, according to data released Friday by oilfield services provider Baker Hughes. More than 100 additional rigs have been deployed across American fields this year.

Still, drilling activity may be poised to slow as producers including Diamondback Energy Inc. and Parsley Energy Inc. scale back spending in response to the lowest crude prices in more than a year.

“We’re still going to have a lot of variation, but the rig count is definitely going to head down,” said James Williams, president of WTRG Economics in London, Arkansas, said last week. “There’s no doubt about that.”